The present invention is directed to a greeting card having an integrated holder for presenting a gift card to a recipient.
Gift certificates to various stores or restaurants are a popular gift idea for birthdays or the holidays. They allow the sender to give a gift from a store at which the sender knows the recipient enjoys shopping, while relieving the sender of the burden of selecting a specific item of the right size or according to the tastes of the recipient. A gift certificate to a restaurant enables the recipient to enjoy a meal at the selected restaurant with whomever the recipient chooses. Gift certificates may be purchased in incremental amounts as determined by the vendor, or in any amount desired by the purchaser.
In the prior art, gift certificates were essentially a paper-based, printed IOU issued by the store, and coming in a variety of different shapes and sizes, according to the preferences of the vendor. Typically, the gift certificate was presented to the recipient in a matching envelope from the vendor, along with a greeting card appropriate for the occasion as selected by the sender.
Recently, gift certificates have evolved into a form similar to debit cards, having a magnetic stripe, bar code, or other read/write capability. The new generation of gift certificates are more uniformly sized and shaped similarly to credit/debit cards and are xe2x80x9crefillable,xe2x80x9d so as to be reusable by the recipient as an access card for a pre-paid, declining balance-type account. Moreover, the capability to automatically update the value of the card enables the vendor to avoid having to issue a new or replacement certificate, or to cash out any remainder if the recipient does not use the whole amount at once.
The present invention takes advantage of the more uniform format of gift cards issued by various retail stores and restaurants to provide a convenient, efficient and attractive way to present a recipient with a greeting card suited for the occasion, along with a gift card simultaneously displayed in the greeting card. More particularly, the present invention relates to a greeting card having an integrated gift card holder which eliminates the need to obtain and present the user with both a greeting card and also a separate envelope or other holder or container for a gift card.
The present invention functions as a greeting card, and also includes a gift card holder and a cover which covers a portion of the gift card holder. The gift card holder is movable between a first position relative to the cover when the greeting card is in a closed state, and a second position relative to the cover when the greeting card is in an opened state. When a gift card is placed in the gift card holder, at least a substantial portion of the gift card is displayed to a recipient from behind the cover when the greeting card is opened.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.